Building confidence through play is something we see every day in early years settings. Have you ever watched young mammal cubs playing? They move, explore, chase, test and repeat actions over and over. They don’t sit down to formal lessons; they play. It’s how they naturally learn everything they need to become adults of their species.

The same is true of children. If you spend any time with children, you will know that they rarely sit still for long. To an untrained eye, they may appear to be “just playing”, yet we now have a strong body of evidence showing that high-quality play is one of the most powerful ways to develop children’s focus, confidence and readiness for later learning. And play should be recognised for the informal learning masterclass that it is.

Why focus and building confidence through play matter

Being able to concentrate, manage attention and keep going with a task are part of what psychologists call executive function and self-regulation. These skills affect our working memory, self-control and flexible thinking, and they are strongly linked to later academic and life outcomes. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbriefs/inbrief-executive-function/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The Department for Education’s “Best Start in Life” research review highlights that the ability to self-regulate and focus helps children get more from teaching and learning activities, and it is associated with better achievement from early childhood into adulthood. Confidence is just as important. Children who feel safe, capable and valued are more likely to take risks in their learning, try new things and persevere when things get tricky.

Play is a natural way to build both focus and confidence because it is:

Fun and enjoyable

Child led, so children tend to stay with the activity for longer

Social, with opportunities to practise other skills

Flexible, allowing adults to scaffold, augment and enhance the learning experience

What research says about building confidence play-based learning

A growing body of research supports play-based pedagogy:

A global review of learning through play found over 300 examples of a positive relationship between play and children’s holistic skills, including cognitive, social, emotional, physical and creative development

The Education Endowment Foundation notes that play-based approaches can improve early language, literacy and numeracy outcomes, and can be particularly helpful for children with social, emotional or educational difficulties

Recent summaries of play-based learning in early childhood highlight that it builds self-regulation and executive function, for example, through games that require turn-taking, waiting and following rules

UNICEF describes play as a powerful driver of cognitive, social and emotional skills, and notes that play with caring adults can protect mental health and reduce anxiety and behaviour difficulties

For practitioners, this research supports what many already know from experience: when play is thoughtfully planned and supported by skilled adults, children’s ability to focus increases, and their confidence can grow dramatically.

How Confidence through play increases focus

Focus is not something we can demand from very young children, although many mistakenly try. Instead, focus is something that develops over time through repeated, supported experiences, and play supports this development in several ways:

Deep engagement in a chosen activity

When children choose what to do, they are more likely to become deeply absorbed rather than in activities chosen by adults. A child building a tower, lining up cars or pouring water from jug to jug is practising sustained attention. To support this, practitioners can:

Give long periods for uninterrupted play

Resist the urge to move children on too quickly

Notice and comment on their concentration, for example, “You are really sticking with that puzzle”

Practising executive function through games

Simple games can strengthen children’s attention, working memory and self-control. These include:

‘Stop and go’ or action songs that require children to start and stop on a signal

Matching and sorting games where children need to remember simple rules

Turn-taking board games where children wait their turn and plan their next move

The Harvard Center on the Developing Child compared executive function to an air traffic control system in the brain, helping children to focus, filter distractions and switch tasks, and playful games are a natural workout for this system.

Repetition and mastery

Young children love to repeat the same actions when playing, and this requires concentration and coordination. By repeating, children strengthen neural pathways, develop mastery and learn to focus their attention on a single task.

How building confidence through play works

Confidence grows when children feel safe, valued and can successfully achieve age-appropriate tasks and goals. Play supports this emotional foundation because children can learn to try, fail and ultimately succeed in a non-threatening, playful way. You can assist this by:

Role play and imaginative play

Role play allows children to try out new identities in a safe space. Research shows that role play supports empathy, communication and confidence as children explore different roles, for example, as a doctor, shopkeeper or firefighter. This can be supported by:

Providing open-ended props (scarves, skirts, wings) rather than rigid costumes

Following children’s ideas rather than leading every scenario

Using role play to rehearse real-life situations, such as going to the dentist, crossing the road or starting school

Open-ended resources

Loose parts (blocks, fabric, natural materials, boxes, tubes) invite creativity and imagination. There is no right or wrong way to use them, which reduces the fear of failure. Children can experiment freely, take risks and adapt their own ideas. As they build and problem solve, they experience themselves as capable learners, building confidence.

Celebrating effort, not just outcomes

How adults respond during play has a big impact on children’s confidence. Instead of praising only the finished model or the child who ‘wins’, practitioners can:

Notice effort: “You kept trying different ways until it worked”

Acknowledge feelings: “You felt frustrated when it fell down, but you tried again”

Encourage peer appreciation: “What do you like about your friend’s idea?”

This type of feedback supports a growth mindset and helps children see themselves as learners who can improve and that builds confidence in the whole learning process.

When practitioners value play as serious learning, plan environments that invite deep engagement, and interact in ways that build both skills and self-belief, children are more likely to develop the focus and confidence they need, not only for school, but for life.